Federal judge puts temporary halt to Ohio executions

Court decision affects two scheduled death sentences

By MARC KOVAC
Dix Capital BureauPublished:May 29, 2014 4:00AM

COLUMBUS -- A federal judge has postponed the next two scheduled Ohio executions, citing a change in lethal injection procedures adopted by state prison officials last month.
In a short statement filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, Judge Gregory L. Frost ordered the stay in executions until Aug. 15.
Ronald Phillips was slated to receive his lethal injection on July 2 after receiving a temporary stay from Gov. John Kasich last year to determine whether he could donate organs to ailing family members. Phillips was sentenced to death for the 1993 rape and murder a 3-year-old girl in Akron.